Pascal raises $9 million to challenge Polymarket and Kalshi with futures-style prediction markets
New York-based prediction market startup Pascal raised $9 million to compete with Kalshi and Polymarket. Union Square Ventures led the round. Pascal differentiates itself through a structural approach: it uses perpetual futures-style prediction market mechanics rather than the yes-or-no contracts that settle when an event resolves. The company positions itself closer to a class of trading products within the event-contract space.
Pascal's perpetual futures format could peel off traders who want continuous exposure rather than binary outcomes. That structural bet matters because Kalshi and Polymarket have built their user bases on simple yes-no contracts. Pascal's mechanics prove stickier, incumbents face pressure to clone the format or cede that segment.
The Union Square Ventures and Wintermute backing signals crypto-native market makers are willing to supply liquidity for a new contract type. Pascal must now prove it can attract enough volume to tighten spreads before Kalshi's $1 billion war chest or DraftKings' 50 million users define the category. The first product launch will test whether traders actually prefer futures-style event contracts to the settled binaries they already know.